This is just a short report for anyone who plans to go to AC during the Christmas holidays. I'll try to post some of the pros/cons about being in AC at this time of the year and post a few pics that I took. As usual, I did a MISERABLE job taking pics on this trip, so you won't see any award winners here.

I arrived in Manila on December 26 having supposed to arrived on the 25th. I flew Continental from Newark to Hong Kong and the Philippine Air from Hong Kong to Manila. At 15.5 hours, the CO flight from Newark to Hong Kong was the longest I've ever taken and it felt like it – particularly as I was in coach. If there is anything positive to say about this flight it is that the individual entertainment systems on the 777 are pretty kick-ass. The bad news is it seems that this flight is consistently late getting into Hong Kong – at least according to a thread on Flyer Talk – and this one was no different. We arrived at the gate almost an hour late and I missed the VERY tight connection that I had to get to my PI Air flight. (Apparently CO doesn't have many connecting flights out of HKG so on-time arrivals for this flight seem to be a low priority.) As a result (and due to some poor planning on my part as I had NO idea where to find a reasonable hotel in HKG), I ended up spending the night at the airport.

The good news here is that there is free WiFi in the HKG airport and a decent, if limited, selection of places to eat late at night. Also on the plus side, PI Air got me on the next flight to Manila the following morning with no additional fees and I ended up arriving in AC about the time I had originally planned. (According to the original plan, I was going to spend the first night in Manila.) On the down side, I HAD TO SPEND THE NIGHT IN THE FREAKING HONG KONG AIRPORT! The lesson here is if you take this flight, don't plan on any close connections! Also, kudos to PI Air for not banging me with extra fees.

So what is AC like in the week between Christmas and New Years? In a few words, much quieter than normal. As has been reported in other places, there seems to be fewer hotties available and the competition for those that are there is elevated accordingly. If you're a late-night selection type of guy and are MODERATELY picky, you may go home empty-handed as I did one night. Lesson here, strike early – if you don't you may not strike at all.

Are bars operating normally during this time? For the most part, yes. They do seem to have reduced staff and several of the Perimeter Bars were closed on New Year's Day. On New Year's Eve only the big bars seemed to have quasi-full stages of girls. Some of the smaller bars didn't have enough dancers for two shifts, so girls were on-stage almost the whole night. In addition, several girls did NOT want to barfine on New Year's Eve as they already had plans with friends or family. Lesson here, line something up for New Year's Eve earlier in the week. I was lucky and did a repeat with a moderately attractive waitress from Shooterz.

Is it stupid in AC on New Year's Eve? Yes, in fact it is MORE stupid than usual – if you can believe that. Huge packs of firecrackers are going off non-stop. Trike drivers are flipping firecrackers at any one who passes. People are firing off BIG aerial displays in the middle of Fields. There was even a roving pack of Baklas prominently on display on Fields between Champagne and Genesis. And I saw my first fight between a Filipino and what I think was an American. (American dude got CLOCKED several times and was STILL talking shit – amazing.) Lesson here, if your going to go out, get back in to your hotel early. A couple of the hotels had parties so that might be another option. Personally, I was balls-deep at the stroke of midnight. Not a bad way to ring in the new year.

I left AC the Sunday after New Years. It seems as if everyone and their grandma was trying to get back to Manila at the same time. I went to the bus station in Dau only to find it PACKED with people. Every bus heading for Manila was SRO and there was a mad scramble of people trying to squeeze in as well. After about a half-hour of this, I said fuck it and went to SM and got a taxi to take me to the airport. They charged 2,500 pesos on the spot and the driver was actually pretty cool. Traffic along the Expressway into Manila was ludicrous, but I made my flight with no problems at all. Lesson here, plan your departure time to NOT coincide with the bum-rush of people returning from the province to Manila. Either that or suck up the cost of the taxi ride from the beginning.

OK, here are the few decent pics that I took.

This first girl is a door girl at Treasure Island. Although she is not great looking, this picture REALLY makes her look bad. In the bar, she was bi-polar. One minute she was all over me – tongue down my throat, hand down my pants – the next she was pissed off. I didn't barfine as I wasn't sure which girl would show up. You can't tell it from the photo, but this girl does have a rocking body.

Photo: Door Girl - Treasure Island 01

The next girl is a door girl from La Pasha. I was heading down Field on New Year's Eve when the idiots let off a pack of firecrackers that left a three foot tall pile of trash in the street when it was done 20 minutes later. The start of this barrage drove me into the arms of this girl. Since she was cute and had a nice rack, I took her inside for a drink and interview. Things were going well during the interview and I thought I had found a winner for the night until I asked her when was the last time she had barfined. (I have recently included this question in my “interview” - which is really more of a conversation that an interview – as it gives you a lot of openings to ask some other fun questions.) Her response was, “More than a month.” “Why?” asks I. “I really don't like boom-boom,” comes the response. Oh well, its a good thing I have a back-up plan!

Photo: Door Girl - La Pasha 02

Final girl is one of the better looking girls at Stargate. She was a lot of fun in the sack. Apparently, she's pretty popular as I didn't see her back in Stargate any other time that week (did see her out with some guy at a bar though.)

Photos: Fun - Stargate 03 04 05

So, is going to AC during the holidays a good idea? The positives and negatives of Angeles are probably more exaggerated during this time of the year. I did get to meet a new bunch of board members including derekh, Futbolito, Snooky and I am Sancho. And hanging with Porker and Big Balls is always a treat – particularly when Bud is on the warpath trying to find a barfine. Would I go to AC again at this time of the year, I'm not sure. All I know is it's better than a sharp stick in the eye!

EA

So by my math calculation you only got to stay a week?! No wonder the journey there left a scar. I thought the airline was suppose to pay for a hotel when your connecting flight was missed/canceled?

Your pics are kewl!

As I've said in asia discussion board, the continental newark to hkg is hell, and you arrive too late to connect with any other flights, plus a morning departure time back to neward and you're talking 2 nights in hkg, minimum. To top it off, the flights from neward often get delayed/cancelled due to weather. You could leave on a sunday and not get to your final destination until late wed or thu!

There ARE flight options out of HKG late at night, but it's Cebu Pacific, and many can't book it easily. I have had 12 hour layovers three times now in HKG, but twice it was by choice: The first time, I wanted to fly in from Manila the night before to make sure I made my connection to Continental for the flight home. This last trip in December, I stayed over so I could take the AM flight on Cebu Pacific to Clark instead of flying in the middle of the night to Manila.

12 hour layovers suck anywhere in the world, and HKG in the middle of the night has NOTHING to do (the restaurants El Apodo mentioned are all closed between 11 PM to 6 AM). Mine would have been nicer if I had a fucking electrical adapter for the stupid airport plugs.

The CO98/99 flights have an hour or so variance on scheduled arrival/departure times depending on the time of the year. This time in January, the CRK-HKG flight on Cebu Pacific worked seamlessly, getting me to HKG 2 1/2 hours before my 11:30 AM flight home on Continental. When the flight is scheduled for 10:30 AM, however, that means I have to head to Manila for the 5:40 AM flight, and it's a lot more of a bitch. Of course, the flipside is that the flight arriving from the US in the early evening makes it easier to connect out of HKG that night.

Thanks for the report and pics, EA, and it's always a pleasure to hang out with you in AC (or anywhere else!). Your last girl looks very familiar to me (haha), and she looked good this past trip. I still would rather bang her bitchy friend, though! I understand there was a staff turnover at Stargate and the bitchy friend may have gone to Candy Bar?

New Year's Eve in AC is always a fucking zoo, and I had zero interest in being outside amongst the masses as the witching hour beckoned. I was lucky enough to find a nice barfine early and was in my room by 10 PM and had a girl who would smile and rub up against me every couple hours and then DEMAND to get laid when "something popped up". THAT beats both being target practice for a trike driver's explosive devices AND beats a sharp stick in the eye!

Thanks for the info regarding the CO flight, being in Montreal its an option for me, but so far AA is cheaper (ORD-NRT). Well... AC during holiday, this year i have managed to skip it! And get my client to agree on me to work during christmas. Thats why i was there in November. I was so happy to stay home when i saw all the crap going on with airports in North America. I was thinking of showing up in AC for 1 week in March but i dont want to get this Jetlag for 7 days, so my target in Havana now.

Some AC girls i keep in touch with were telling me it was slow... But i usually take everything they say with a grain of salt LOL so you confirm that and this is more reliable for me.

My cherry trip there during holiday, it was PACKED of punters, ALL cute ladies were booked 5 minutes after opening, CRAZY ! But still very fun don't get me wrong.

Thanks for reporting.
Cheers !
Zen

I was in AC for New Years 2008 going into 2009 and it was overcrowded. Don't get me wrong an overcrowded day in AC is better then the USA. On the other hand AC in October or March in my opinion is much better then during the Xmas season. In the off season it's much more of a buyer's market and you can go to the bars late and find hot girls. Zen's metaphor "Packed of Punters" describes AC at Christmas New Years well.

Metal,

8 days in total, I find 10 to be about perfect for me. Losing time on either end sucked, but it is what it is.

Porker,

Maybe the move to Candy Bar will be good for bitchy girl. She is STILL one of the better looking girls I've done in AC, too bad her attitude isn't on par with her looks.

Zenrico,

I somehow managed to skip most of the BS with airport travel over the holiday, so count myself lucky. I will say that the pat-down I received at the HKG airport before boarding the return flight was more intense than foreplay from a TJ hooker. Now if I can only convince the females to give males pat-downs I'd be set.

Gurock1,

I don't know if there were more mongers here than normal, but there were certainly fewer girls. Many bars were virtually empty of customers all week long. Perhaps the fewer girls make it appear as if there are more mongers. As I stated above, competition for the lookers can be tough.

EA

Thanks for the report and pics. For once you guys were in Asia while I was stuck in the US aint getting laid. I learned a long time ago, when it's catholic holiday time (especially xmas with the double whammy of more guys less girls) go Muslim or Commie. Likewise, Chinese new year, it's best go to Indo (low demand and high supply). Ramadan, DOn't go to Indo. Best to not be married to one location and be opportunistic.

MX,

Sorry to miss you this last trip. Will be back in that part of the world again at the end of March, beginning of April. Probably summer as well. See if you can't tear yourself away from all the Chinese puki and slum it with the boys in AC! I know Porker misses you!! (I think I'm going to cry!)

EA